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http://www.archive.org/details/battleofelizabetOObeas 



THE BATTLE OF ELIZABETHTOWN 



-BY- 



t 



Rf FrBE ASLE Y. 



Speech delivered on the occasion of the Annual Celebration at 

the Quilford Battle Ground, July 4th, 1901, at which time 

was unveiled The Colonial Coluqin, and a monument 

to Captain James Morehead of the 1 0th Reg^iment 

North Carolina Continental Line 



Published by the Quilford Battle Ground Company. 

1901. 



i 






P. 



M 



a 



THE BATTLE Of ELIZABETHTOWN. 

Speech of R. F. Beasley Delivered at the Annual Celebration of 
the Guilford Battle Ground Company, July 4th, 1901. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: — 

lu the large gathering here to-day, in the great speech of 
your Governor to which you have just listened, and in the cere- 
noLOuy which you are yet to witness, a stranger must read the 
signs of an auspicious day in North Carolina, a day when the 
actions and motives of a virtuous people are not only vindicated, 
but honored in the unveiling of a beautiful structure of granite 
with its sides emblazoned with tablets of living letters which 
fitly tell a story of glory more imperishable than the bronze and 
adamant upon which 'tis written. This day is more auspicious 
than the similar ones that have gone before, because it is the 
culmination of the things we have done before. To-day, for the 
first time, we extend the circle of our endeavors and bring with- 
in its scope some men whose deeds have not only been too much 
unhonored and unsung, but who have actually been regarded by 
some of our so-called historians as extremely suspicious char- 
acters. 

On any day some fifteen years ago, if a traveler had been 
venturesome enough to attempt to pass the tangle of the ''Old 
Salisbury road" he might have seen somewhere on this field a 
stoutly-made man, robust in body and with a strong face de- 
noting remarkable mental activity, busily engaged with a score 
of laborers in clearing underbrush, measuring distances, mark- 
ing lines or laying out avenues. That man you all know. It 
was Judge David Schenck, to-day the honored president of your 
company, and he has nobly served you, not only in the work 
done on this field, but in the writing of a book of sledge-hammer 
facts and logic which has forever swept away an unworthy 
charge against North Carolina's honor. 

But upon this field again could have been seen the figure of 
another worker; it was upon a spot in front of where I now stand, 
midway between Greene's Virginia militia and his Continental 
troops, and it was but the 16th of last May — the figure was that 



of Major Joseph M. Moreliead*, who was busily engaged in com- 
pleting the turfing around yon grand Colonial Column, perhaps 
the handsomest monument in the State and one of the hand- 
somest anywhere. To that tireless citizen of Greensboro we owe 
that great achievement in monument building and also to him do 
we owe the fact that, after a century and a quarter of either ob- 
scurity or misrepresentation, the Regulators and their motives 
and the consequences of their actions are understood and prop- 
erly published to the worldf. I have said that to-day we have 
enlarged the scope of our celebration. Do you know that upon 
this good day, we are enabled to properly celebrate ui)on this 
field the first battle of the Eevolution, the first American victory 
in that war, one of its decisive battles, and the last engagement 
on the soil of our State — Alamance, Moore's Creek, Guilford 
Court House and Elizabethtown? The work of the two gentle- 
men whom I have named represents the beginning and the 
realization of the possibility of this day. That is why I say this 
hour is doubly auspicious. What reflections must crowd upon 
the minds of the patriotic citizens gathered here to-day! 

Who has not asked himself the question, ''Why do we build 
monumentsf And who of the many visiters that come to this 
place from Maine to California do not look upon the shafts here 
and ask themselves why it all is! Is it for the dead that we 
build? What care these heroes whose bones sleep on forgotten 
fields whether their names be written on brass or marble? 

''Can storied urn or animated bust. 

Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath!" 

Why should it not be said of each that — 

' 'We carved not a line, 

And we raised not a stone, 

But left him alone in his glory?" 

Ah, we make statues and write history that the glorious 
dead may yet speak to the living; that those whose deeds have 
wrought good to race or country may bring their message to us 
as they gave it to their contemporaries, thus being "heirs of all 

* It should not be inferred that this was Major Morehead's first 
service in this cause. Since its incipiency he has been, year in and 
year oat, tireless in the cause of the Guilford Battle Ground, spending 
his money, time and labor freely in its behalf. His last work is but 
the crowning effort of past achievement. 

t Major Morehead is the author of a most reliable historical pam- 
phlet, here referred to, — "James Hunter, General of the Regulators." 



the ages," we have before our eyes for emulatiou the cumula- 
tive virtue and wisdom of the centuries. We build mouumeuts 
for the honor of the past, for the inspiration of the present, and 
for the protection of the future. Monument-making is an ethical 
force. It is ethical, because, in North Carolina, at least, we 
build only to the great or the good, and their virtues are thus 
iuculcated in the young. '^The portraits and statues of the hon- 
ored dead," says Edward Everett, ^'kindle the generous ambition 
of the youthful aspirants to fame. Themistocles could not sleep 
for the trophies in the Ceramicus; and when the living Demoth- 
enes had ceased to speak the stony lips remained to rebuke and 
exhort his degenerate countrymen. We can never look on the 
portrait of Washington, but his serene and noble countenance, 
perpetuated by the chisel and the pencil, is familiar to far 
greater multitudes than ever stood in his living presence, and 
will be thus familiar to the latest generations." Macauley's 
lone fisherman may one day mend his nets upon the deserted 
banks of the Thames, but when will the picture of Good Queen 
Bess ridiug among her small band of sailors and exhorting them 
to hurl back the all-powerful Spanish Armada fade from the mind 
of the race that would esteem heroic action! Some day we may 
cease to hear the throb of the war drum, but when shall we cease 
to point proudly to the record of a warrior like Robert E. Lee 
and glory in his unblemished character, his tender sympathy, 
his knightly courage, his gallant bearing and his unswerving 
devotions When Napoleon bade his soldiers remember that 
from the pyramids forty centuries looked down upon them, he 
voiced the fact that the greatest incentive to noble action in the 
present is the desire to be worthy of the noble actions of the past. 
What father, as he passes over this battlefield, will not 
strive harder to instil into his son's mind and heart the lessons 
of viitue and patriotism which here open so abundantly before 
him? Let the youth of our land be brought to spots like these 
and be taught the love of country and devotion to the public 
good, the majesty of liberty and the sacredness of law, the great- 
ness of unselfishness and the beneficence of high ideals. At this 
shrine of patriotism let them drink in the fact that they are of 
the present as these heroes were of the past; that to each lot 
some duty falls; that none who shrink are worthy, and that 
while no invading enemy is now threatening and may never 
again threaten our country, there are daily calls to duty, to un- 
selfishness and to devotion to the public good. Let them under- 
stand that when from the fathers they inherited the freedom and 
glory of a great country they assumed the obligation to transmit 
them undefiled. Infuse into them these truths and you have a 



6 

geueratiou of men, who, when the crises come, will meet them iu 
whatever form presented as the men of these hills met British 
invasion. Tell me not that we cannot thus rear our youth, and 
tell me not that when so reared they will be recreant to any 
l^ublic trust or liberty-given responsibility. Tell me not that a 
people nurtured and reared iu the spirit of freedom will fail to act 
as that spirit dictates when the nation comes, in its larger life, 
to the solution of questions which are thrust upon it as the freest 
and grandest country on the globe, or that we shall extend our 
ministrations to other peoples except as a benediction. The 
freedom and greatness of our country are in the hearts of its 
people as they were iu the hearts of the heroes who sleep here, 
and no earthly power can dislodge them. Then let us, descend- 
ants of worthy sires, as we meet in the very shadows of their 
glory, draw determination from their record and resolve to do 
what duty and country demand of us, and not only shall our 
country live, but its glory and blessings shall encompass the 
earth. There is no place in the economy of the universe for 
sefishness, either in men or nations, and God never opened the 
windows of heaven and showered so profusely his blessings upon 
this country that we might enjoy them alone and do nothing for 
His creatures in the benighted sections of the world. The idea 
that patriotism is enmity to other nations is wrong. Rome died 
because her patriotism became petrified into national and indi- 
viduel selfishness. England lives to-day bcause she learned 
well the lesson taught her on this very field, reversed her policy 
and became a real mother to her colonies instead of a tyrant over 
them. To-day the sun never sets on her possessions and the 
only cords that bind them are those of love. 

Standing today in the shadow of the past, recollecting the 
sacred blood that has been consecrated to our country's cause, 
and appreciating the dangers, responsibilities and opportunities 
of the present, I declare to you that we should not look with 
pessimistic eye to the future of our country, but should gaze 
upon its rising sun with hope, determination and patriotic 
fervor. 

To-day we meet principally to unveil the Colonial Column. 
This is a great event, for so late as the 12th of last month a dis- 
tinguished jurist and historian of this State was able to say 
truthfully in a speech before the Teachers' Assembly that so far 
nowhere had a monument in honor of Alamance and the grand 
years just preceding the fiual outbreak of the Revolution been 
unveiled. The same distinguished citizen spoke earnestly for 
the perpetuation of our history by means of the painter's brush 
and the sculptor's chisel. That policy we are endeavoring to 



carry out here, and it is that policy that must vivify our history 
and endear it to our jieople who do not have the time or incli- 
nation to go to the musty volumes of old print. In consonance 
with this policy I am proud to inform you that not only do we 
to-day unveil the Colonial Column, but another monument also. 
This is one erected to the memory of Captain James Morehead 
of the Tenth North Carolina Continental line, by Col. James T. 
and Major Joseph M. Morehead and Capt. R. Percy Gray. May 
their example of honoring a revolutionary kinsman be followed 
by others. 

I desire to ask this vast audience not to allow the lesser 
event of the day to be swallowed up wholly in the greater, and 
that you may not, I submit some remarks in connection with 
the record of him to whom this monument is dedicated. Of this 
true American whose memory is yet so dear to his kinsmen that 
they, after a century, thus honor his name, we know little. The 
men of his day were too busy laying the foundations of our com- 
monwealth to take time to write history, and, as is always true, 
the immediate descendants were careless. A.11 too many of even 
the names of gallant men of that day have been forgotten. Many 
of the bravest of the brave have no scratch of pen to tell of their 
services. To-day in some obscure manuscript we see that a 
certain man of that time did a valiant deed for his country, 
worthy of immortal renown, and to- morrow we see that he fell 
and was buried in an unmarked grave, and that is all that we 
may find recorded. 

Captain James Morehead was born in 1750 and died in 1815, 
and his bones probably rest in the old family burying ground in 
Richmond county. Tradition says that he was a ''thin, tall man, 
of mild and amiable temper, ' ' and he was a bachelor and died of 
consumption. We know that he was appointed lieutenant in the 
Tenth North Carolina Continental Line on March 23, 1779, 
and that he subsequently became captain. He went to South 
Carolina with the nine-months men under Sumner, and was in 
the battle of Stono, near Charleston, June 20, 1779, and that he 
was in the battle of Elizabethtown in Bladen county in 1781. 
We also know that Captain Morehead stood high in the estima- 
tion of his countrymen after the war, because he represented his 
county in the General Assembly of 1797. In those days only the 
wisest men and those of the highest character were sent to the Leg- 
islature, and it was not unusual for retired governors, senators, 
foreign ambassadors and judges of the greatest note to be sent 
time and again to represent their counties in the Legislature. 
The very next monument that should be erected upon this field 
should be to the distinguished soldier, statesman, diplomat and 



member of the Legislature, William R. Davie, aud then will be 
completed a set of tablets to that gallant quartette who fought 
together at Stouo — Sumner, Dixon, Morehead aud Davie. 

I digress here a moment to heartily congratulate Major 
Morehead on his adoption of the particular forms, or drafts of 
the two memorials about to be unveiled. The tirst is a solid 
granite, A tent 5x5x5 feet in length, breadth and height and 
weighs about ten thousand pounds. This form, so far as I know, 
is absolutely unique and its selection for a stone upon this famous 
battle field, is strikingly appropriate for 

'^Ou fame's eternal camping ground 
Their silent tents are spread." 

I have said that Captain Morehead was in the remarkable 
battle of Elizabethtown, and in that gallant struggle I am sure 
he bore an important part. • Unfortunately we have had no ade- 
quate history of this action of vast importance, not because of 
the number engaged, but on account of the valor of the patriot 
band and of the results attained. In keeping with the idea that 
addresses on the annual celebration here shall be of historic in- 
terest, I shall attempt to give you a short account of this strug- 
gle. The time at my disposal has not been sufficient to allow me 
to master the details of the fight, as I hope to do later and to 
publish for their intrinsic worth, but by the aid of Colonel Ham- 
ilton McMillan, of Red Springs, a gentleman who has engaged 
much in patriotic research, I am enabled to give the general 
facts relative thereto. This was one of the most important of 
the many struggles that occurred in our State between the Whigs 
and Tories, and as King's Mountain and Ramsour's Mill pre- 
viously had paralyzed Tory spirit in the West, so this action 
freed a large section in the east from the most galling of Tory 
oppression. 

During the Revolution North Carolina patriots were con- 
stantly called upon to be prepared to repel invasion of their own 
State, to help their sister States, to furnish levies for the Conti- 
nental armies, and to keep down disaffection at home. Added 
to these they were compelled to make subsistence for themselves 
and their families on their farms and to largely or wholly supply 
the armies. The East jiarticularly suffered, especially during 
the time our troops were engaged with the enemy in South Car- 
olina and in the repelling invasion in the west. At the time of 
the battle of Elizabethtown, though Cornwallis had left the State 
for Virginia, the British were in possession of Wilmington, and 
the Tories held Fayetteville. Some idea of the general state of 
the country may be had at this time when the patriotic troops 



had left the State to rescue South Carolina aud Georgia when it 
is remembered that a band of Tories boldly went to Hillsboro 
and captured Governor Burke and his council and other cfficials 
and carried them as prisoners to Wilmington, The eastern 
country was harassed beyond measure by the British from Wil- 
mington and the Tories of the section acting under their protec- 
tion. These eastern counties had an unusually large per cent, of 
loyalists, and no doubt many real friends of liberty were terror- 
ized into activity. That section was filled with Scotch of very 
recent immigration. These Scotch had as an alternative to re- 
maining in Europe and suffering the penalties of treason to the 
British crown, come to America. They naturally enough had 
quite a wholesome dread of England' s power. Besides they natur- 
ally doubtless had absolutely no confidence in the ability of the 
people to govern themselves, nor had they had the taste of free- 
dom and the self reliance born of having been in America for 
one or nearly two hundred years. They constituted the Tory 
army to Moore's Creek Bridge. I have made the following ex- 
tracts from letters and documents written in the year 1781 to 
show the distressed condition of the lower counties and their 
subjection to and persecution by the British and Tories. These 
will also be seen to bear out the truthfulness of the story of the 
battle which I shall read you: 

Colonel Thos. Brown to* General Lillington, from Elizabethtown, 

February 19th: 

^'I enclose you Colonel Emmett's letter to inform you how 
infamously the Newbern district hath behaved, and, I am told, 
chiefly on account of Cajjt. Thomas. I will guard the ri\'er on 
account of the baggage and as far as lies in my power, but the 
greatest part of the people in this county is engaged back against 
the Tories, and seems very loth to go against the British and 
leave their families exposed to a set of villains who daily threat- 
en their destruction." 

Capt. Geo. Doherty to General Sumner, from Duplin, June 22nd: 
'^I embrace the opportunity of Colonel Kenan's going to the 
Assembly to inform you that the tumults in this part of the 
country have been the cause of the draft and everything relative 
thereto, being, I suppose, later and more out of order here than 
in any other section of the State. We have at j) resent some little 
respite from the cursed Tories, but cannot say that they are en- 
tirely subdued. The draft was made in Duplin, but the more 
than half of them have been among the Tories or the so disaffec- 
ted that they will not appear. The number that we ought to 
have here is about 70 men and there is not yet above 24 ap- 



10 

peared and about 20 from Onslow. The men have been so 
harassed by being kept in arms, that heretofore they conld not 
attend to i^rovidiug the clothing required by law, and without 
clothing the troops cannot march, as not one among them has 
got a second change and some have hardly dudds to cover them." 

General Sumner to General Greene, from Camp, July 25th: 

''Major Craig at Wilmington continues his ravages for 30 or 
40 miles up the Cape Fear with little or no opposition. His Ex- 
cellency, the Governor, a few days since, sent me orders to march 
all the drafts collected to Duplin county, but sir, it was so in- 
compatible with my orders and at that time I was not joined by 
Major Dixon with the Hillsboro drafts, neither has those from 
Edenton come up." 

General Drayton to Governor Burke, 12 miles from Cross Creek, 

July 6th: 

"Craig, as I have already mentioned, has ordered the men 
of Bladen county to be in arms by such a time and it is supposed 
for establishing posts at Elizabeth and Cross Creek. Out of fif- 
teen companies in the county I am informed 12 incline for Craig. 
Still there are a numbor of men not wanting that' are willing to 
endeavor to prevent such step of the euQ^ny proceeding, but sir, 
they are at a loss for a head." 

Colonel Kenan to Governor Burke, from Duplin, July 6th: 

"I hope your excellency will order assistance to this part of 
the country, otherwise good people here will be under the neces- 
sity of giving up in order to save their property if possible, but 
this will be the last step taken." 

Colonel Kenan to Governor Burke, from Duplin, July 9th: 

"I am much afraid the enemy will penetrate into this county 
before we shall receive any re-inforcement, as I am told Colonel 
Linton is ordered to the westward. I hope your excellency will 
be mindful of this distressed part of the country." 

Isaac Williams to General Caswell, from Cape Fear, July 22th: 

"I have heard nearly the same as I wrote you before, that 

there is between two and five hundred of the Tories on or near 

the Eaft embodied. We had a muster on Monday last, 

when the third and fourth number was ordered to meet in order 
to march after the Tories, but there was neither offtcers nor men 
met, only eight or ten. The colonel never came at all." 



11 

Colonel Jno. Kenan to Governor Burke, July 15th: 

''The enemy has moved out of Wilmington up to the Long 
Bridge and are rebuilding, it is said by several gentlemen who 
have left the town. Their intention is to gave no more paroles 
and will sell every man's property who will not join them and 
become British subjects." 

Colonel Kenan to Governor Burke, from Duplin, August 2nd. 

''I am now convinced that this county with several others 
will be overrun with the British and Tories." 

General Greene to Governor Burke, from Headquarters on the 

Santee, August 12th. 

'^1 perfectly agree with you in opinion that the best way of 
silencing the Tories is by routing the enemy from Wilmington, 
for while they have footing there the Tories will receive such en- 
couragement as to keep their hopes and expectations alive, and 
their incursions will be continued. Nor will it be in your j)ower 
to crush them with all the force you can raise, as they act in small 
parties, and appear in so many different shapes, and have so many 
different hiding places and secret springs of intelligence that you 
may wear out an army and still be unable to subdue them. ' ' 

This was the deplorable state of affairs when the action of 
Elizabethtown occurred on the 29th of September, 1781. Wheeler 
says that the battle was fought some time in July, without giving 
a definite date, and that the Whigs were commanded by General 
Brown. Both of these statements are wrong. Honorable Hamil- 
ton McMillan has proven conclusively that the fight occurred 
September 29th and that the leader was Colonel Thomas Eober- 
son. Mr. McMillan has kindly procured for me a perfectly au- 
thenticated manuscript written in 1845 by Robert E. Troy, a 
prominent lawyer of his day, living in Lumberton. The manu- 
script was written at the dictation of James Cain, a Revolutiona- 
ry veteran who was in the battle which he describes. By the aid 
of Mr. McMillan, I think every statement of this account, with 
the exception of an immaterial one, can be proven true, and since 
it is entirely unknown to North Carolinians, and as it gives a 
very graphic account of the battle, I cannot do better than to 
read if to you, in lieu of any transcription of its facts. 

CAIN'S ACCOUNT. 

Copy of a letter written by Robert E. Troy, Esq., to The 
Fayetteville Observer, March 12, 1845, telling of an interview 
with James Cain, of Bladen county, N. C, a Revolutionary 



12 

veteran, who relates the history of the battle of Elizabethtown, 
fought September 29, 1781: 

. LUMBERTON, N. C, March 12, 1845. 

Dear Sir: It has been a matter of regret that the events of 
the Eevolutionary war in North Carolina, while they exhibited 
some of the most brilliant feats of daring and chivalrous courage 
which distinguished that contest with the mother country, have 
almost entirely escaped the notice of the historians who have 
attempted to transmit to posterity a record of that interesting 
and eventful period. And who has not deeply and painfully felt 
that regret, as some greyhaired veteran of the Revolution, with 
all the interest and fidelity of an eye-witness and a participant, 
narrated the particulars of some bold adventure, or some wild 
and dangerous enterprise, when bravery and conduct supplied 
the place of numbers, as he reflects that those acts, which, in the 
dark ages of knight-errantry, would have won for those who 
were engaged in them the highest glory, will soon pass into ob-. 
livion and be forgotten forever? 

Under the influence of such feelings as those, I have taken 
the liberty of sending you the following account of the "Battle of 
Elizabethtown" which I received in almost the very words in 
which I have given it from one (perhaps the only living witness) 
wh ) was present and who fought bravely for liberty on that and 
every other occasion, when fortune gave him opportunity. It is 
impossible to hear him as he relates with eloquence and truth, 
the trials, the dangers and privations of those dark and turbulent 
times and doubt for a moment the authenticity of his statement j 
he speaks as one who knows and feels — "Quaeque ipse miserrima 
vidi, et quorum magna pars fui." 

Some time during the summer of 1781 or 1782, my informant 
could not tell with certainty which, but he rather inclined to the 
belief that it was 1781, about 400 Tories under Sliugsby estab- 
lished their quarters at Elizabethtown and about 500 more under 
Colonel Fanning four miles above at a place called Brompton on 
the river. Both the leaders and most of the men were "wicked 
Tories." There were, however, some true Whigs in principle 
who had been forced to take up arms against their country, and 
who were called in the language of that time "signed Tories." 

From these two points they ravaged the country in every 
direction, insulting and plundering the most respectable families, 
burning several private dwellings, wantonly destroying a great 
quantity of valuable property and committing upon the defence- 
less inhabitants outrages of the most horrible and barbarous 
nature. 



13 

There were in the neighborhood 180 Whigs under the eoni« 
mand of Colonel Thomas Kobeson, who felt themselves too weak 
to either attack the Tories in a body and avenge the wrongs they 
daily suffered or to protect their homes from the depredations of 
the remorseless marauders. Colonel Thomas Brown^ the regular 
commanding officer of the Whigs, had been wouuded a short 
time before in a skirmish with the British regulars near Wil- 
mington, and was unable to continue in active service. Colonel 
Roberson had no commission at that time, (his former commis- 
sion having expired) and he volunteered to take command at 
the request of Colonel Brown and the Whigs generally, during 
the absence of that officer in consequence of the wounds he had 
received. These 180 men remained lurking in the swamps and 
thickets for three weeks, hopiug for reinforcements and watch- 
ing for opportunities of cutting off detached parties of Tories; 
they could not, however, get a shot at a single Tory, nor did 
they obtain one recruit. They then resolved to endeavor to 
enlist the feelings of their fellow Whigs in the adjoining counties, 
and marched through Duplin, Johnston, Wake, Chatham and the 
upper corner of Cumberland. In these counties, though they 
found many friends and were kindly received and hospitably 
entertained at almost every place where they made their ap- 
pearance, and three general musters were called to supply them 
with the necessary re-enforcements, yet they could not find a man 
who was williug to join them and march against the Tories. Such 
was the general consternation and so great was the terror of the 
names of Fanning and Slingsby, that all men so far from the scene 
of suffering chose rather to stay at home and take care of them- 
selves and families than thus, as they conceived, to voluntarily 
throw themselves into the lion's clutches. 

It was now six weeks since Colonel Robeson and his men set 
out on their recruiting expedition, and when they returned to 
Duplin (now Sampson) they found instead of having increased 
their numbers, that, with those who had deserted and those who 
had obtained leave of absence upon furlough, they had only 71 
men, all of the original company which had left the Cape Fear. 
They were all mounted and all had guns, but many of their horses 
M'ere worn to the bone, and in all the bones seemed to stick 
through the skin. The knees, elbows and shoulders of a great 
many of the men were exposed and some had not even a change 
of clothes. In that plight, worn out and dispirited, they arrived 
at the house of Gabriel Holmes, a true Whig and a fervent friend 
of liberty. Here Colonel Robeson announced to his little band 
his determination to return home and disperse the Toiies or 
perish in the attempt, and called upon all who were willing to 



14 

go witli him in this desperate undertaking to step forward. At 
the word every man advanced but one. They had been occasional- 
ly informed during their route by messengers going and return- 
ing between this patriotic band and their homes, that the Tories 
had grown every day more bold and unscrupulous by im- 
punity and that their outrages and insults had become literally 
intolerable. These 70 men, scantily supplied with ammunition, 
without clothes and without provisions, and broken down with a 
long march, set out early oue morning to give battle to the same 
•400 whom they felt too weak to encounter when they had three 
times their present number and were all fresh and well supplied 
with provisions and all the necessaries of war. After a forced 
march of two days through a country laid waste and deserted or 
only occupied by a few unfriendly inhabitants, they reached the 
bank of the river opposite the village of Elizabethtown undis- 
discovered about dusk on the evening of the 28th of September. 
Since they lefc the house of Mr. Holmes the men had not eaten one 
morsel of anything whatever and the horses had only eaten what 
grass they could get as they halted along the road two or three 
times during the march to rest them and let them graze. Having 
reached the river, they again halted to take a few hours, repose 
and wait for the hour of attack. The moon shown nearly all night; 
just as she was going down about an hour before day, they again 
put themselves in motion. One man was left to take care of the 
horses. Sixty-nine undressed and waded the river. The water 
was ' 'breast deep." They then resumed their clothes and pre- 
pared their guns for action. The men were separated into three 
companies, 25 men in each, and with the stillness of death they 
approached the Tory quarters from three directions at a time. 
The signal for attack w as to be the first gun that was fired by a 
Tory sentinel; the orders were then to pay no attention to the 
sentinels, but at the discharge of the first gun, which was to be 
the signal of attack, each party was to rush up, and at the com- 
mand of its leader, fire right into the midst of the Tories. My 
informant was in the party which was first hailed by the sentinel. 
''Stand; who goes theref was repeated three times but the little 
band of twenty-three men continued steadily and silently ad- 
vancing, like a dark shadow, without paying the least attention 
to the summons. The sentinel then fired his gun into the air 
and instead of retreating to the main body fled into the woods. 
In an iustaut the Whigs poured into the midst of the alarmed 
and unprepaj-ed Tories a volley which threw them into complete 
disorder. It was now perfectly dark, nothing could be seen but 
the constant flash of the Whig guns and the half-naked Tories as 
they sprang from their slumbers and rushed to and fro in every 



15 

direction, seeking some place of refuge from the devouring wrath 
of their adversaries. The watch- word was ^'Washington'- and 
as it was shouted from man to man and from rank to rank among 
the Whigs, completed the panic and consternation which the first 
discharge of the Whigs had begun, and the unhappy Tories con- 
ceived that the ' 'Father of his Country," with all his host, was 
upon them, and that they were surrounded and that nothing re- 
mained but for every man to be presently cut to pieces. Most of 
them plunged headlong into the deep ravine which has since 
been called the ' 'Tory Hole' ' and the rest ran for their lives into 
the neighboring thickets and none of them stopped until they 
had placed many miles between them and the terrible visitors 
who had so unceremoniously disturbed their rest on that awful 
night. 

When the battle was over and the Tories were completely 
dispersed the day had just dawned. Seventeen of the Tories, 
among them their leader. Colonel Slingsby, were left dead on the 
field. ISTot one of the Whigs were killed and but four wounded, 
who were William Glover, Matthew White, James Singletary and 
James Cain. The Whigs then supplied themselves with what 
arms and ammunition they could carry and returned in triumph 
to the other side of the river, and marched across Colly Swamp 
where they encamped. It was now the third day since they had 
taken a mouthful of food, and so far from being worn out or de- 
feated the brave old patriot, who gave me this account, declared 
he never saw a more jovial or active band in his life. In fact," 
said he, "I will tell you the truth, I was so overjoyed that I did 
not feel the cravings of hunger any more than if I had just risen 
from the best meal I ever ate, and if I could have lived always 
just as I felt then I do not know that I would have eaten another 
mouthful again." 

The power of the Tories was completely broken and they 
never made headway in that part of the country afterwards. 

Among many amusing anecdotes of the torror of the Tories 
on that accasion he relates the following: "One poor fellow, at 
the first round which was fired by the Whigs, threw away his 
musket and rushed frightened out of his wits into the nearest 
thicket. He continued his flight till he reached his home in the 
upper part of Robeson (then Bladen) county, only stopping to 
beg the necessary refreshments and relate the horrors of the aw- 
ful onslaught from which he had just so narrowly escaped, and 
which he described as terrific in the extreme, for he declared the 
first thing he knew Washington had completely surrounded them 
with the whole Continental army and that they had all been 
massacred and that he supposed that he was the only man who 



16 

had made his escape, which he only did by cutting his way 
through the thick files of the American Eegulars. He mentioned 
the name of one man who fell on his right, of another on his left 
and of one whose dead body lie jumped over as he broke through 
the hostile ranks. He said that he had passed within fifteen 
steps of the mouth of a cannon, which they snapped at him as he 
ran and which if it had fired would have blown him to atoms, 
but luckily for him and the cause of King George, the cannon 
snapped and he left. ''Y." 



Was braver deed ever written in the annals of war or chiv- 
alry? But other ones of equal valor may be found in the glorious 
history of our State. ''Time," says Emerson, "dissipates into 
shining ether the solid angularity of facts." Fellow-citizens, I 
appeal to you to study the story of our past, gather up the neigh- 
borhood legends and traditions as well as the larger events be- 
fore they are all dissipated into shining ether, and teach them to 
the young. It has been said that "national recollection is the 
foundation of national character." My effort to-day has failed 
if it has not impressed upon your minds that fact, and more than 
that, all the work done here and your annual celebrations will 
be for naught, if by them our history is not clarified arrd made 
dear to the present and future generations. And in the work of 
illuminating the present by the lamp of our history, the Guilford 
Battle Ground Company has been and must continue to be a 
pioneer. 

This spot must be our Revolutionary Pantheon, dedicated not 
to mythical gods and goddesses, but to the memory of the heroes 
who conceived under the King's wrath and won in the teeth of 
the King's army, the right to control their own destiny as a free 
people. Here we must keep brightly burning the constant 
vestal fires of patriotism, and here our countrymen from less fa- 
vored sections of the State may make pious but joyful pilgrimage 
and kindle afresh within their bosoms the sacred flame. Here, 
' 'the high water mark of British invasion of North Carolina, ' ' 
shall be the high water mark of our constant endeavor to write 
the name and fame of every worthy hero and enterprise of the 
great fight of North Carolina as a leader in the Eevolution. 
Twelve or fifteen years ago, when the originator of the idea to 
wrest this field from the riotous brush and briar began his patri- 
otic labors, even his vigorous imagination did not stretch its 
flight to conceive of such magnificent results as have been at- 
tained in the beautification of these grounds. But as the work 
progressed and the plan and effort unfolded themselves, ambi- 
tious designs lent speed to the thought of him and his helpers, 



17 

till now, behold the magnificent work of their hands! Much work 
still remains for patriotic private hands. That work is to con- 
tinue to care for and build to this park till such time as the gen- 
eral governient, having learned from the ''philosophy of his- 
tory," that Yorktown was a sequence of Guilford Court House, 
and that no sjjot in this broad land is so favorable for a tangible 
acknowledgement of those blessings of freedom which followed 
the successful termination of that war, as this one, shall thank- 
fully receive from this company the work that it has done and 
pledge itself to construct and maintain here a magnificent na- 
tional military park. Sometime this may be, if not, well and 
good, North Carolina, ever foremost in patriotic endeavor, will 
continue to care for it. In the ownership of this spot the people 
of Greensboro and Guilford couuty have a priceless possession. 
Many of these people are the descendants of the men who fought 
here, and both by reason of this and their proximity to the 
grounds, they are peculiarly its guardians. And so let them 
continue the good work which their Schenck began and has car- 
ried on so nobly, and to which their devoted Morehead has ad- 
ded lustre. Men of Greensboro, the national government may 
do much, but it has not; the State of North Carolina does some- 
thing and may or may not do more, but you have done great 
things and must do greater. 



r 



' :\ 

The stress of public duties preventing Governor Aycock frottf, 
giving us a copy of his address for publication, the following ex-« 
tracts from the press are inserted. 



The Biblical Recorder, July 10, 1901. 

At only one place in North Carolina so far as we know, was the 
fourth of July — the birthday of Independence — appropriately ob- 
served. That was on the Guilford Battlefield — a worthy place in- 
deed. There a monument to virtue and heroism and the spirit of 
independence was unveiled; and Governor Aycock and Editor Row- 
land F. Beasley delivered addresses. 



North Carolina Christian Advocate, July 10, 1901. 
THE GUILFORD BATTLE GROUND CELEBRATION. 



During the colonial period and the Revolutionary War North 
Carolina was the theater on which many heroic deeds were enacted 
and many places within her bounds were made sacred by the valor 
of her sons. 

* * * 

The Guilford Battle Ground Company has wisely set apart the 
fourth of July, the birth of our Nation, as the time for the annual 
celebration of the battle at Guilford Court House. It has become a 
day and an occasion that are looked forth to with great interest and 
every year thousands of people repair hither to commemorate the 
deeds of the noble men who fought in the Revolutionary war and 
who met and vanquished the enemy on that bloody field. 

In some particulars the exercises on last Thursday were more 
interesting than on any previous occasion. 

Hon. Charles B. Aycock, govei'uer of the State, was the princi- 
pal orator, while Mr. R. F. Beasley, Prof. M. H. Holt and President 
Chas. D. Mclver made appropriate addresses. It is the first time 
in the history of the Association when two granite monuments were 
unveiled at one time. One of these commemorates the last battle 
of the revolutionary war fought within the borders of the State in 
September, 1781. The other an imposing Colonial Column with 
four large shields on its sides, sets forth the State's history from 
May, 1771, to April, 1776, the most heroic period in the history of the 
Commonwealth. 

Too much cannot be said in praise of the men who have done so 
much to make prominent this historic place and draw to it year 
after year many of the best people of the State where is kindled 
anew in their bosoms the fires of patriotism. 
We commend their example to others. 



Greensboro Patriot, Wednesday, July 10, 1901. 
THE GLORIOUS FOURTH, 



The Battle Ground .Celebration — Speeches by Governor 
Aycock and Mr. Beasley. 



The annual celebration at the Guilford Battle Ground last Thurs- 
day attracted a great many people, who greatly enjoyed the exercises 
of the day. The principal events of the day were an address by Gov- 
ernor Aycock on the colonial history of North Carolina, and one by 

a. b. Beasley, Esq. 

* * 

The Governor spoke of the struggles which went on from the 
earliest settlement of North Carolina until the people wrested their 
freedom from British tyranny and oppression. He said while in 
other sections of America, the struggle for liberty was usually begun 
by the leaders, iu North Carolina it was the masses who first took 
up the fight for individual rights, maintaining the struggle until 
their representatives were instructed to declare for independence of 
great Britain. The first blood of the Revolution was spilled on 
North Carolina soil, at the battle of Alamance, and the Regulators 
who stood there against foreign oppression were not lawbreakers, 
though they were fierce. Butfor Alamance, declared the Governor, 
North Carolina would not have been the first State to pronounce 
the Declaration of Independence. 

In closing his speech the Governor made a strong plea for edu- 
cation, saying this was the only way of maintaining the liberty be- 
queathed by the fathers. 

* * * 

Governor Aycock was followed by Mr. R. F. Beasley, editor of 
the Monroe Journal, formerly editor of the Greensboro Telegram, 
who delivered a learned and scholarly address on the battle of 
Elizabethtown, which was fought in Bladen county iu September, 
1781. This is a portion of important North Carolina history of 
which little is known, and Mr. Beasley's address displayed much 
thought and patient research. 

After the speaking the beautiful Colonial Column and the 
monument to Capt. James Morehead were unveiled with appropriate 
ceremonies. The Colonial column is the first monument erected to 
the memory of the men who fought at Alamance and who made mem- 
orable the few years just preceding that battle. 

A pleasing incident of the celebration was the presentation by 
Mr. D. L. Clark, the High Point artist, of a very fine oil painting 
of Maj. Joseph M. Morehead, the indefatigable vice-president of the 
Guilford Battle Ground Company. The presentation speech was 
made by Prof. M. H. Holt, of Oak Ridge. The painting was ac- 
cepted by Dr. Charles D. Mclver. 

Judge Schenck, the venerable president of the GuilfordBattle 
Ground Company, was too feeble to attend the exercises. 



PROGRAM OF THE ANNUAL CELP^BRATION 

AT THE GUILFORD BATTLE GROUND 

ON JT ' LY THE FOURTH 1901. 



Procession will foim on the Salisbury Road at 10:30 

In the followinji- order: 

Dk. ChaklkvS L. Scott, Chief Marshal, and Assistants. 

Pkoximity Band. 

Orators of tfik Day, Chaplain, Mastp:r of Ceremonies, 

AND Distinguished Gup:sts in Carriages. 

Directors and Stockholders of thp: Guilford Battle 

Ground Company. 

Citizens Generally. 

J'rocession when formed will move to the Grand Stand. 

ORDER OF EXERCISES. 

At the Pavilion. 

Music by the Band— "The Old North State." 

Prayer by the Chaplain, Dr. L. W. Crawford. 

Oration — Governor Aycock. 

Presentation of the Portrait of Joseph M. Morehead by 

THE Artist and Donor, David Clark, Esq., 

BY Hon. Alfred M. Scales. 
• Response by Dr. Charles D. McIver. 
Music— ''The Star Spangled Banner." 
Procession Reformed and March to the 
Captain James Morehead Monument and the Colonial 

Column 

Then to be Unveiled. 

Adjourn to Dinner. 

Reassemble at Pavilion at 2:80 p. m. 

Music by Band. 

Oration on the Battle of Elizabetiiton by 

R. F. Beasley, Esq. 

Grand Concert by'^ Proximity Ba n d. 

JAMES W. FORBIS, Master of Ceremonies. 



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